WWE Backlash HOLT report - Happenings off Live TV
April 26, 2009
Providence, R.I.
Report by Jamie Edginton, PWTorch.com reader

I was lucky enough to get fifth row floor seats for a great event. My friends and I were on camera all night. The security team was confiscating signs. My friends had two signs taken away. All they said were "Your lame gimmick holds you back" and "your wrestling skills are sub-par." They said it was because we were on camera side, and they were yellow. WWE Censorship at it's finest. The crowd was into a lot of the matches, and even laughed at Santino's antics. The card...

Dark Match: Kofi Kingston beat Dolph Ziggler with the "Trouble in Paradise." Good match to warm up the crowd. My friend had an "I paid to see Dolph Ziggler" sign, which both Kingston and Dolph acknowledged. Kingston pointed and shook his head, while my friend yelled back "sorry Kofi," and Ziggler pointed to the sign, then to Kofi, and said, "see."

The fireworks are really loud live.

PPV Review

(1) Christian beat Jack Swagger with the Killswitch to win the ECW Title. Swagger has a bright future. The crowd and I were very pro-Christian, and I was very happy to have him win. Christian is a world champion in WWE. I know I'm stretching being that it's ECW, but we'll take it. The promo between Edge and Christian after was great too.

(2) Chris Jericho beat Ricky Steamboat with the Walls of Jericho submission. A lot of support for Steamboat, and for Jericho too from the crowd. Two great workers, and Steamboat does in fact still have it.

(3) Kane beat C.M. Punk with the Chokeslam. I think the crowd was very surprised by this. I've always felt that Kane deserved more than a one day world title reign. Punk could have a solid program with Edge. Good match.

(4) Jeff Hardy beat Matt Hardy in an "I Quit" match. This was a great match in my opinion. I am more a Matt fan, but there was a lot of Jeff Hardy support. My favorite sign of the night was the "I want Hardy to win" sign. The speech by Matt at the end was great too. I feel that Matt is ready for the main event push, and I think that Cena and Matt would have a great feud.

-- The Santino(a) skit was lame and too long. When will the WWE get that the fans don't want comedy skits? We want wrestling. Santino covering up the "wardrobe malfunction" got a laugh, though. I hope they're paying Santino a lot of money for this stuff.

(5) Randy Orton & Legacy beat Triple H, Batista, and Shane McMahon with the "Punt of doom" with the result of Orton winning the WWE Title. This was a great match. Everyone was expecting either Batista or Shane to turn, and I'm glad WWE didn't go that route. Randy Orton is my favorite superstar, with Edge as a close second. This was a great match, especially the last few minutes. I think Orton heard my cheering of "best in the business," directed at him. I think I lost my voice just from cheering at his win. The crowd and myself were a little harsh with the "na na na goodbye" chant, and the "please retire" chants directed at The Game.

(6) Edge beat John Cena in a "Last man Standing" match with Big Show's help to win the World Heavyweight Championship. My favorites went three-for-three in the World Title matches. If you had told me in the beginning of the match that Edge was going to win, I would have said no way. Smackdown needs a World Title yes, but two heels winning back-to-back and three title changes in one night? Not possible. I read the PPV report. I don't know if this came across different on TV, but I would say that it was 60/40 in Edge's favor. The dueling "Let's go Edge/Cena" chants and the "boo/yeah" chants were great. Is it wrong to have a giant smile on your face, with your hands in the air, cheering at Edge's win, as countless little kids wearing their Chain Gang outfits are devastated and shocked that their hero lost? I almost felt bad...almost.

Overall, I would give the event a ten. I lost my voice. Everything was very good through to excellent (sans the Santino(a) skit), and I got a Randy Orton chair for my fifth row floor seat to go with my Cena fourth row seat from Survivor Series. I have been a fan of the WWF/E since 1985 and as someone who is a proud wrestling fan, I can tell you that even thought the WWE does stupid things sometimes, they're still the best thing going today, and it's a blast to see it live. Thanks for reading.

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